Another Quick Trip to the Homeland

That's right folks, in a mere 12 hours I will be back in the homeland (Texas for those of you who don't "get" the whole "I'm proud to be from Texas and even though I no longer live there I will ALWAYS be from there" thing). It will be the quickest, yet most expensive trip that I have ever made there. I leave Friday night and return Sunday evening.

What's the occasion, you ask? My good friend from HS, who was also an usher in my wedding, is getting married tomorrow! I can't miss that! My wonderful husband consented without even a bit of hesitation to let me come. Sometimes I wonder how I got so lucky. I will miss you this weekend!

Here we are by the Eden Fire Truck a few weeks ago at Kim's wedding. (Everyone now, "awwwwwww".)

Anyway, enough of that. I am excited to see my grandparents who felt rather neglected, I must admit, at Kim's wedding since we only saw them for a couple of hours. Not that this trip will be legnthy by any means, but at least we will have a little time to chat.

Last night Julianna came over, ate dinner with us, and played sequence with us. Wow, what a way to celebrate your birthday, huh? Sorry we aren't more exciting, J! We did get her a new "friend" - Ivy, but I will let her tell you all about that. House plant (who we decided to name "Lindsay"), you will be happy to know, is still at our rehab facility working towards a full and healthy recovery. She was in pretty bad shape when she first came to us, but she is doing much better.

In the book arena, I finished The Wedding by Nicholas Sparks. A++ If you want a feel good book with a great ending, this is something for you. I have tried to start "For Kings and Planets" by Ethan Canin, but it is not going well so far. It's slow to start, and it has been really dark with a sad sort of feeling thus far. I brought a backup for my travels - just in case this one really gets stinky.

The most exciting news I have lately is that I have decided that I am going to learn how to knit! Yes, I know this may not be that exciting for most, but in my world this is super! I can't wait to learn how to hone my mad skills and make a pair of socks. I have been seeing all of these awesome knitted socks, and just have to learn. I think I've mastered (well gotten pretty good at) crochet, and now I want to start this venture. My ultimate goal is to make myself a sweater. Now, I know that visions of really awful Christmas sweaters are floating through your head right now, but I am talking about something cute and modern. Something that people will not know is "homemade". That will be the true test. Something like the top one (the bottom one is a tinsey bit ugly):


I'm getting way ahead of myself, though. Must slow down, and contain myself. The learning will tentatively commence next Saturday after an afternoon of shopping with Julianna. She, as you may have guess, will be the teacher, and I her pupil.

Welp, that's about it for now. So-long for now, and have a fantastic weekend.

Keep me in your prayers as I travel.....

Book and Weekend Stuff

Just as I have promised, I will give my book review:

True Believer by Nicholas Sparks- great book, and then I found that it had a sequal. So, of course, I had to see what happened next even though the book had a fine enough conclusion by itself.

At First Sight by Nicholas Sparks- the sequal to True Believer. Let me just tell you this, it was really good too, but in a different way. If you don't want to end up bawling, stop at True Believer and make up your own happily ever after ending. For drama and emotion, continue reading on. Want to know how much? Let's just say that it takes A LOT for me to cry. Especially over a book.

Other exciting news is that I finally completed my baby afghan. It turned out really cute after all. Now I just have to find someone to give it to, or wait two years to see if I have a girl. Sometime, if I get a chance, I will post a picture of said blankey. It's mostly 5 dc shells and puffs with the exception of part of the edging that is 7 rows of sc. It really added a lot. I like it. My next project is a cute little tote bag. Julianna, I'm going to try out some of the crazy yarn you gave me - the second hand-me-downs. :)

In other exciting news, Nick and I are going to the beach tomorrow! Fantastic! The tragedy is that this is the first time this summer we have been. I am going to bring along my new Nicholas Sparks book that I just started - The Wedding. The way I have been reading lately, I'll probably have it finished before the weekend is over. I must be rubbing off on Nick, because he has started his second book. Of course (for anyone who knows him you could have guessed) they are Tom Clancey. Books for a man's man. Naturally.... :)

On Sunday we are going to see Evan Almighty with what ever HS youth show up to see it with us. Nick and I are Office addicts and love Steve Carell, so I'm really looking forward to the movie. I hope it's good!

My final source of excitement is that I will be making a dessert for our Bible Study group on Sunday, and I'm trying out a new recipe from www.kraftfoods.com. It's a lemon cake with a coolwhip/ coconut frosting cleaverly called "Cool Lemon Coconut and Sour Cream Cake". I think I might top with some rasberries. If you are ever in a cooking slump, that websight is awesome. It's free to set up an account and you can save your favorite recipes in your recipe box for future reference. They will also send you a weekly email with themed recipes for the week. For example, the week of the Super Bowl, they had all these great appetizer and dip recipes. The recipes are simple enough and don't use any crazy ingredients. It's what I like to call "normal people cooking". If you are any kind of foodie like I am, you understand what I mean. :)If anyone tries it out, let me know what you think of it.

Anyway, those are my exciting weekend plans. I hope you all have a great one!

Reading for fun?

Yeah, that's right -- for fun. I almost forgot what that was. In case you are looking for a good book to read, here are the 6 I have read so far this summer - they are diverse (hey I like to mix it up sometimes):

The Yada Yada Prayer Group by Neta Johnson - courtsey of my pastor's wife; about a hodge podge group of women the meet a a conference and somehow continue to grow and help eachother despite all of their differences. (It's a series, so I have like 6 more of these to read...sometime)I give it 3 out of 5 stars ***

Postmortem by Patricial Cornwell - courtsey of mom; a CSI type mystery that is very entertaining, exciting, and keeps you guessing until the last few pages. 4 Stars ****

A Bend in the Road by Nicholas Sparks - another one from mom; Wow! What a great book. It's a love story, but not your traditional one. Follows the life of a man looking for the hit and run killer of his deceased wife as he raises his son. Execellent! 5 stars *****

The Englisher and The Bretheren by Beverly Lewis - I picked up and started reading The Englisher without knowing that it was the second book in a series (Annie's People), so you may want to start with the first book in the series. They were both a good read. I decided on these to get me in the mood for Amish country. These tell you a lot about the Amish culture and religion. I found them interesting. I love books that are fiction, but you still learn a lot from them. 4 stars ****

True Believer by Nicholas Sparks - in process - I liked A Bend in the Road so much I wanted to read some of his other books. I'm only on Chapter 5 right now, but so far, so good. I'll let you know it's final rating when I'm done.

So, as you can see, I have been really poductive lately. Worthless, actually. Once I get into a good book it is really hard for me to put it down. It's addicting, for sure.

Anyone else have any good reccomendations for me? I'd love to hear about them.

I am also trying to finish up my baby blanket I have been working on (on and off) for the past 4 or 5 months. Hopefully I can get that tackled soon.

I gave in

O.k. my lovely blog made me create a google account, so I finally did it. There was no other way to post, so I caved. It has just been so long, I needed to do it.

So here is an update on what has been going on with me the past few months:

Finished school for the spring - and the best part is that I'm out all summer!!!! Gloria Dios! I have been enjoying the time off thoroughly. I am on my 6th book of reading for fun - I almost forgot what that was like.

In mid May I took a trip to Texas to visit my mommy and daddy. It was so good to see them. One day dad and I took a trip to the Witchita Mountains about an hour north of where they live. It was absolutely beautiful. The hike up the 2270 mountain took about 1 hour to the top and 40 minutes back down. Here are a couple shots of the hike:

View from the top


Part of the hiking trail

Later that week, we drove down to my old home-town to celebrate my best friend from high school's wedding. It was a great time, and we did end up getting Kim and Chad hitched. :)

Me and the bride


The Fam

It was a fun time had by all. It was sort of strange to see some people I haven't seen in years. It's funny how some people change so much you can hardly believe it, and how others haven't changed a bit.

Monday, Nick and I got home from my grandparents' 70th wedding anniversary/ family reunion in Indiana. I'll save that experience and pictures for my next post since this one is getting rather lengthy.

Ah it feels good to be back in the saddle. Sorry to my two loyal fans. I will try to post more regularly now....